Sustainable Finance

Weleda is a second-year member of Whole Planet Foundation’s annual $50,000 Fund, alleviating global poverty through microcredit.

Amplifying this year’s Prosperity Campaign, suppliers to Whole Foods Market in our top giving levels are donating $1.05 million to fund 31,550 opportunities for low-income entrepreneurs around the world to change their own lives.

Xylem Inc. has announced execution of its new $800 million Senior Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility. With this transaction, Xylem has replaced its five-year $600 million revolving credit facility, while adding a sustainability-linked pricing mechanism to the new facility. The deal is one of the first sustainable improvement loans in the U.S. and the first in the General Industrial Sector. The interest rate is index-linked to Xylem’s overall sustainability performance as rated by Sustainalytics, a leading independent global provider of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) ratings. Improvements in Xylem’s sustainability performance will reduce interest rates under the facility.

In the spirit of #FundHerFuture, the generosity of David and the Papyrus-Recycled Paper Greetings generosity has created 43,000 opportunities for women entrepreneurs and their family members to live a better life through entrepreneurship.

Wells Fargo announced $18.5 million in grants today to nine Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) so they can unlock capital or increase training to diverse small businesses across the U.S. Two CDFIs are receiving awards to continue their work supporting entrepreneurs in Puerto Rico, which is still recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

The eligible categories for the use of the net proceeds – renewable energy, energy efficiency, green buildings, sustainable water management, and biodiversity and conservation – are designed to positively impact the environment and advance U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.

A majority of U.S. asset managers are now practicing sustainable investing, viewing it as a strategic business imperative. In a new survey entitled Sustainable Signals: Growth and Opportunity in Asset Management, from the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing and Bloomberg, 75% of respondents reported that their firms have adopted sustainable investing, up from 65% in 2016.

We will take you behind the scenes to introduce you to the teams that are dedicated to empowering the world’s poorest people to become entrepreneurs. You will meet Field Officers, volunteers, and Whole Planet Foundation staff. Through their stories you will get a glimpse into a day on the job—whether it is in Austin, Texas or Huehuetenango, Guatemala.

Ten years ago, 85 percent of the world’s transactions were in cash and checks, and 2.5 billion people were unbanked. Since then, we’ve all been working hard as an industry to develop technology that will give the unbanked access to the world of digital payments.